Brief summary of the EDEN2017 conference at Jönköping University, Sweden 13-16 June 2017

EDEN2017 a brief summary

The EDEN 2017 took place at Jönköping University, Sweden 13-16 June 2017. The conference gathered participants, almost 200 from 36 countries around the globe. All continents were represented. The overall theme of the conference was Diversity Matters.

It was a great pleasure for me as a Swede, to welcome EDEN to Sweden,  for the second time.  The first time was in Stockholm, at KTH at EDENs 10th Anniversary Conference, 2001. The theme was in 2001 Learning Without Limits. Developing the Next Generation of Education.

During the conference issues on skills and knowledge required to take an active part in a society characterized by digital technology were discussed, and how  it can be embedded, learned, and practiced in people’s daily lives. The conference also targeted the ever-changing media- and technology landscapes create opportunities for learning at all stages in life in formal and informal settings, as society itself can be understood as a learning environment. New policies and practices entailed by the high presence of digital tools have to take into account the “inclusion” or “exclusion” of different groups in society were also debated. In addition, technology and open education open doors to groups of learners from a range of backgrounds, generations, cultures with different languages, literacies, and ways of communication were on the agenda. Likewise, it was discussed how educators deal with diversity in media and technology enhanced learning environments, and how can such diversity can be accounted for and used to transform and adapt online learning settings. Furthermore it was discussed how educators, stakeholders and policy makers meet digital inequalities, and new challenges for teachers and educators in the new media landscapes to create meaningful contexts for learning.

There were even a diversity of formats for the conference, keynotes, workshops, synergy sessions, and  many possibilities for networking during the  Swedish FIKA, lunches,  dinners, and all social events.

Two awards were issued, one Young Scholar Award and one for Best Research Paper.

Two pre conferences were organized during the EDEN 2017. A longer workshop 12-17, was organized by the Swedish Association for Distance Education (SADE) on the theme Digital Transformation and Diversity in a Swedish Context. The conference gathered some 60 national and international participants from around the world. The program was in English. SADE was one of the sponsors for EDEN2017, as well as SADE was in 2001, in Stockholm. SADE sponsored also the Yung Scholarship Award.

The full program for the SADE conference can be downloaded here http://sverd.se/temp/eden_sade_13062017preconf.pdf

The second pre-conference was a kick off on the new EDEN Special Interest Group (SIG) on Technology enabled learning (TEL), led by Dr. Ebba Ossiannilsson (EDEN EC, and SADE).  This pre conference had the themes on rationales  why EDEN has started this SIG, about the TEL Landscape, the role of EDEN NAP (Network of Academics) for this SIG, and  introduction of the three following workshops during EDEN 2017 organized by EDEN Special Interest Group (SIG) on Technology enabled learning (TEL).  The three following workshops were on the themes:

·       Renewing the Quality Agenda

·       Quality in TEL on Micro, Meso and Macro Level, and who are the Stakeholders. Why and How do They Have an Interest?

·       Innovation for Quality Leadership

EDEN are happy to announce, that the #eden17 Conference Plenary Sessions are once again live streamed on EDEN’s YouTube Channel. Tune in to see your favourite keynote speakers every day according to the official programme schedule and share your thoughts and reflections using the official conference hashtag: #eden17.

Selected keynote speakers will be interviewed on video by Steve Wheeler on behalf of the EDEN NAP Steering Committee on Wednesday and Thursday. All the recorded videos will be uploaded to Youtube.

All keynote presentations are uploaded as PPT-s to EDEN’s Slideshare after the event.

Read more about the conference at the webpage

EDEN Conference http://www.eden-online.org/2017_jonkoping/ 

Dr. Ebba Ossiannilsson
ebba.ossiannilsson@gmail.com
@EbbaOssian

ICDE OER Public Policy Committee

ICDE Focal Points on Quality Europe
Quality reviewer ICDE, and EADTU
Guest Ed ED Science Topical Collection on MOOCs

EDEN FELLOW, EDEN EC
Open Education Europa Fellow
Open Education Europa Ambassador